Caroll Vanwelden

Caroll Vanwelden is a Belgian singer, pianist and composer whose music brings together jazz, classical influences, poetic texts and cinematic sound worlds.

After completing her engineering studies, she continued her musical training at the Ghent Conservatory and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she graduated magna cum laude. Over the years, she has developed a distinctive musical language shaped by freedom, elegance, rhythm and emotion.

Her varied discography reflects the breadth of her musical interests. On her debut album, Colours, released in 2008, she blended jazz with soul and Latin influences, followed by the swinging Cheek to Cheek in 2009. Don’t Explain, released in 2013, paid tribute to the classic song repertoire of the 1940s. On Portraits of Brazil, released in 2016 by the German label Enja Records, her love of Brazilian music, bossa nova and jazz took centre stage.

Caroll gained international recognition through her Shakespeare trilogy: Sings Shakespeare Sonnets I in 2012, Sings Shakespeare Sonnets II in 2014 and Sings Shakespeare Sonnets III in 2017. Across these albums, she transformed William Shakespeare’s sonnets into original jazz compositions and established a unique artistic voice on the international scene.

With her latest project, Shakespeare Revisited, she continues this artistic journey in a more personal, direct and modern form. Jazz remains the foundation, enriched by chamber-music colours, cello, keyboards and subtle electronics.

Together with Dominique Vantomme on keyboards and electronics and Jean-François Assy on cello and electronics, Caroll creates an intimate and sometimes cinematic sound world in which the voice, the words and improvisation are given space to breathe.